Xavier Kataquapit

What is the first thing you look at in the morning? What is the last thing you see before you go to sleep at night? Many of us would would hesitate in answering and probably not want to admit that the answer is the smartphone. We use it constantly to scroll through our favourite social media feed to look at memes, funny videos about cats, news stories, fake stories, true stories, questionable stories, gaming videos, movie clips or a quick five second video by some stranger we’ve never seen before and will never see again.

In James Bay Cree mythology and legends, one of the recurring characters that comes up is the story of the trickster or wandering spirit. This a mysterious character that wanders around our world and takes on any form it wishes. It could be a man, a woman, a child, an Elder, or calls itself an older brother or a younger sibling. Sometimes it’s an animal, a bird or a tiny creature. It could just be a spirit that blows in the wind, that speaks from the forest or inhabits the earth or stones or water. Sometimes it’s a monster and sometimes it is a helpful being that saves people.

There is a lot of discussion about gun control these days. As an Indigenous person who was born and raised on the lands of the great James Bay, I know very well the role that hunting rifles and shotguns play in harvesting animals. One of the first things I learned as a young boy was how to fire a gun as part of my education in learning the culture and traditions of my people in terms of harvesting moose, caribou, geese, ducks and other wild life.

November 11, Remembrance Day is very meaningful to myself and my partner Mike. Myself and my family lost my great-grandfather John Chookomolin during the First World War or what is referred to as the Great War. This is a very sad and tragic story as the Canadian military in 1917 sent a recruiter up the James Bay coast to look for young Indigenous men to join the conflict in Europe. This recruiter more or less kidnapped 24 young men who could not even speak English from Attawapiskat and convinced them to join him.

Northern Ontario featured the hugely successful Second Annual “Every Child Matters” Pow Wow in Kirkland Lake on September 30. The event which was held at Civic Park brought in over 2,000 visitors from Northeastern Ontario including the participation of children from schools from Kirkland Lake, Englehart and Temiskaming Shores. The gathering also brought performers, drummers and singers from across the north and Quebec.